Booking.com troubleshooting

This article will help you understand the reason for the errors you may encounter during or after connecting Booking.com to Cloudbeds PMS and how to solve them.

If you can't find the problem you're facing in this list, reach out to our support. You can also reach out to your Booking.com Account Manager if you have questions about the Booking.com extranet.

If you are not connected to Booking.com yet, find the connection guide here: Connect Booking.com to Cloudbeds PMS

Errors during the connection process

My property is not available on Booking.com, why?

ISSUE: On the Booking.com extranet you have the message "This property isn't taking reservations on our site right now".

REASON: Usually when this message appears on Booking.com, it means that Booking.com manually closed the availability on the extranet due to the connection process with the Cloudbeds channel manager (myallocator).

SOLUTION: You need to contact your account manager and ask them to reopen it because your connection to the channel manager is finalized. 

Error: Please activate the connection with the channel manager in the booking.com extranet

This error message means that you have not activated the connection to the Cloudbeds channel manager at Booking.com extranet.  You must login to your Booking.com extranet and confirm the connection with the Cloudbeds channel manager.

Please login to your Booking.com Extranet and follow the steps below to confirm the connection:

  1. Click on Account at the top
  2. Click on Channel Manager section
  3. Then, go ahead and confirm the connection with Cloudbeds channel manager (myallocator) by clicking on Activate the Connection with myallocator

Errors after the connection process

Error during mapping: "There are no usable rate plans configured for this channel"

ISSUE: During mapping, you receive this error: "There are no usable rate plans configured for this channel. It's possible that they are all read-only, which means that we cannot update them."

REASON: This error happens when all of your rate plans are set up on Booking.com to be "read-only".  When they are set up as read-only, it means the channel manager is unable to update rates or availability for those rate plans.

Having them as read-only is not possible for channel management, so they must be changed to XML enabled.

Note:

If your Rate Plans are marked as Read Only, you may see a message similar to the one circled below.

This rate is connected.  You can receive reservations via channel manager but you need to update your availability via the Extranet.

SOLUTION: The only way to resolve this is to ask your account manager (NOT Booking.com Customer Support) to change your rate plans to be XML enabled.

Send an email or message to your Account Manager stating the following,

Hi [Account Manager's name],
This is [Your Name] from [Your Property].  My Property ID is [ID].
I am currently connected to myallocator as my channel manager.  However, my rate plans are setup to be "read only" and they cannot control my availability or rates.
Please change my Rate Plans to be XML enabled to resolve this problem.
Thank you!

Once the change has been made to XML Enabled, you will be able to complete the Booking.com setup normally per the instructions here: Start mapping Booking.com in Cloudbeds PMS

Error during mapping: "No rooms are configured with this channel. Please log into the back-office of Booking.com and add your room setup."

ISSUE: During mapping, you receive this error: "No rooms are configured with this channel. Please log into the back-office of Booking.com and add your room setup."

REASONS:

  1. There are no rooms set up on the channel
  2. There are no cancellation policies in the extranet

SOLUTION:

You need to access channel extranet and make sure you have set up rooms and canncellation policies

I have just added a new room type in Booking.com Extranet but it doesn't appear in channel mapping - why?

REASON: When adding a room in Booking.com, there is a setting called NON-XML which would hide it from being viewable by channel managers.

SOLUTION:  Please make sure this setting (NON-XML) is not enabled for your room.  If it is, deselect that setting and submit the room again, which should make it viewable by the Cloudbeds channel manager.

The rates on Booking.com are too high (9999 USD)

ISSUE: After connecting, the rates on Booking.com are very high.

EXPLANATION: If your currency is USD and the rate for some dates became 9999, or if you use another currency but the rate equals 9999 USD after conversion, the reason is that the price for this date was set to 0 in the Cloudbeds channel manager. The Cloudbeds channel manager connection is designed to send 9999 USD instead of 0 rate.

*If the rate is too high but does not equal 9999 USD - the reason for the issue is different. Try checking the Base Rate Adjustment setting in your channel mapping or your currency settings, if they were set incorrectly, this might cause wrong rates.

SOLUTION: We plan to start sending 0 rate in the future; meanwhile, you can close the room for the dates with 0 rate or the Cloudbeds channel manager will keep sending 9999 USD for these dates.

The reservation rate plan description does not match Booking.com

ISSUE: The reservation is imported into Cloudbeds PMS with the rate plan description 'genius rate' while in Booking.com it was made under the non-refundable rate plan.

REASON: (provided by Booking.com team) "As this rate was not created through the Promotions API or using the Promotions tab, the Rate Name will not display. However, within it will be sent not as a rate plan name but as a description (additional information) mentioning that the booking was made with a non-refundable policy."

Why is guest information (email, address, phone) not included in the booking?

REASON: For certain OTA (channel) bookings, you may not receive all of the information due to connection limitations. It's important to remember that an OTA is the source of this incoming information (not the Cloudbeds channel manager). The Cloudbeds channel manager will always display the full information the OTA provides and it will be imported to Cloudbeds PMS. If there is a piece of information missing, it means the OTA did not send it to the channel manager.

Another reason is the setting inside your OTA extranet: it might be that certain guest data is not set as mandatory on your Extranet.

SOLUTION: To resolve this, you'll need to email your OTA Account Manager (NOT the customer support team) and inform them that you are missing guest data from bookings that are forwarded to Cloudbeds channel manager, and that the Cloudbeds channel manager has already confirmed that their system is working.
Your Booking.com Account Manager will be able to update the setting for you.

"Please activate the connection with the channel manager in the Booking.com extranet. No updates are possible until you do this"

ISSUE: Cloudbeds PMS is showing the following error: "Please activate the connection with the channel manager in the Booking.com extranet. No updates are possible until you do this"

REASON: This message means that you have not activated the connection to the Cloudbeds channel manager (myallocator) in the booking.com extranet.  

SOLUTION: You must log in to your Booking.com extranet and confirm the connection to the Cloudbeds channel manager (myallocator).

Please follow the steps from this article to confirm the connection.

"At least one room/rate combination could not be updated"

ISSUE: During a Full Refresh you receive an error "#1118 At least one room/rate combination could not be updated, as it's inactive (Room Id #####, Rate Id #####). 

This is usually not a problem since you might not have all rate plans available for all rooms.

SOLUTION: If you see this error message in Cloudbeds PMS channels page, please contact your account manager at Booking.com and ask them for help. Give them the rate and Booking.com room IDs. They will know more about the issue since this message is coming from their system. 

Booking.com Availability Hard Closure Troubleshooting

What is a Hard Closure on Booking.com?

Hard Closure refers to availability blocks on the Booking.com calendar, even when Cloudbeds is sending availability and prices for these specific dates.

These are not blocks/rules sent from Cloudbeds, but availability blocks already made in the Booking.com platform:

Closed (Hard Closure) vs Multiple Blockers
  • The Closed status is a hard closure made by Booking.com. It is not possible to remove this type of closure from the Cloudbeds PMS side, meaning that, it needs to be removed directly from the Booking.com extranet by following the steps below.
  • Multiple blockers are the availability blocks sent from Cloudbeds to Booking.com, and these are automatically updated when sending availability to the channel.
Hard Closure Troubleshooting
Step 1 - Disconnect your property from Booking.com

To remove the hard closure on the Booking.com extranet, the channel needs to be fully disconnected from Cloudbeds PMS first. Follow the steps on this guide for the temporary disconnection: How to disconnect Booking.com from Cloudbeds PMS?

Contact our Support Team if you need assistance with the process.

Step 2 - Open rooms manually in your Booking.com extranet
  1. Once your property is disconnected from Booking.com, access the channel extranet, go to Rates & Availability and select the Open/close Rooms option
  2. Specify the dates to apply changes to
  3. Select the corresponding rooms and rate plans
  4. Select to open rooms
  5. Save your changes
Step 3 - Reconnect your property to Booking.com

Once the closures have been removed, reestablish the connection making the mapping again, confirming the XML connection and sending a full refresh to have the channel fully updated, without any hard closures.

Follow the steps in this guide: Connect Booking.com to Cloudbeds PMS

All reservations confirmed while the property is disconnected from the channel manager, must be manually added to Cloudbeds PMS to avoid overbookings.

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